


The Certainties of Life (as Embodied by Spirits and Treasurers)

by emmaliza



Category: Political RPF, Political RPF - Australian 20th-21st c.
Genre: (although it's referred to very vaguely), 80's Politics, 90's Politics, Australian Politics - Freeform, Character Study, Drabbles, Gen, I have become extremely weird, Racism TW, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 21:51:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2708006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmaliza/pseuds/emmaliza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of vignettes/drabbles (defined loosely) from A-Z, covering the events and characters of Australian Politics of the eighties and nineties.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I went and became a massive political history nerd, and after approximately a year of repressing the urge to write fic about the drama I found, I gave in. Also the definition of "80's" & "90's" in my tags is a bit vague - we are not actually carrying on 'til the late 90's and the early Howard years. It basically means "around the era of the Hawke-Keating government, but also a few years before with Hawke's rise and all that, plus it's deliberately half about the opposition so tagging it after the government wouldn't be quite accurate, plus one drabble just skips to 2010 because reasons, so yeah."
> 
> Title comes from the speech Bob Hawke made at the opening of the New Parliament House in 1988:
> 
> "I believe the spirit of Sir Robert Menzies, whose commitment to the concept of Canberra as a truly great national capital should be respected right across the political spectrum - I believe the spirit of Sir Robert Menzies would smiling with approval today. Your Majesty, these intonations of our mortality, and the presence of the Treasurer, remind us of the paradoxical truth: that in life, the only certainties are death and taxes.
> 
> The second chapter is simply notes explaining some of the details here, because I am probably the only person under 60 who knows/cares enough to understand this all otherwise.

**Ascent (1981)**

It’s his destiny to be Prime Minister. Everyone knows that, even Bill does. The Labor Party is a mess, and it needs him to save it. He respects Bill, and appreciates what he’s done getting the party back on track – but he failed to knock off Fraser last time, now it’s someone else’s go.

Bob shakes hands with his opponent after Willis, and grins. He’s on his way.

**Brittle (1983)**

“I know we are going to lose,” he said. “And you will see no change in me until Election Day.”

He likes to think he has kept his word. He has fought a losing battle against Hawke’s unstoppable tide, and he has fought it with dignity and honour – while unprepared, which, he supposes, was his own fault. But anyway, let the people see what happens once he’s actually elected, once all his promises prove “unfeasible due to the economic circumstance.”

Malcolm shouldn’t be surprised. He was never here to be beloved by the people. He’s not even liked in his own party. But he was put here to fix things, to put the nation back on track after Whitlam’s chaos. It’s why, no matter how much the left reviles him for what happened in ’75 (and oh, how they revile him, but he did what was right and he’d do it again), he kept being elected and re-elected. He had a job to do.

But the job is done now. The Australian people don’t need their stoic, unflinching leader. They want to be excited again.

He cries, on television, when he loses the election. It seems pointless not to.

**Carry on (2010)**

He should have known this would happen. Paul and his bloody temper. Well, there’s a decade of attempted reconciliation – appearing together at conferences, the most unbearably awkward dinners imaginable – down the drain. Should have known this would happen.

He doesn’t know what’s going through Paul’s mind, honestly, other than his ego’s grown so much he can’t bear any implication that he was not responsible for every single victory that government – Hawke’s government – ever had. It’s like they’re living in entirely different realities.

Bob taps his fingers on the words in Paul’s letter, and flinches. It is a shame.

**Denouement (1990)**

It’s the worst night of his life. He doesn’t know if he’s going to be Prime Minister. If he is, he can hardly say he’s earned it – he’s likely earned it if he isn’t. The Government is on the nose, and the economy is becoming a disaster, but people just don’t trust him.

That is his fault: he is the perfect politician, the charming smile and soothing tone – it’s great in an interview but it’s just not real. He’s been here twenty years, and learned every trick: it’s like being a rock in a stream. The water runs over you long enough and it wears away every nook, every cranny, every hint of depth.

Labor gets the numbers and he won’t be Prime Minister. He’s a recycled failed leader, failed for the second time, and the lights go out. He has no hope of ever making it, and now it’s time to think about a successor.

John doesn’t think he’s ready. Andrew has to believe he is. John believes so strongly in what he wants to do; his beliefs practically burn right through him. He’s become very fond of John over the last year, and he believes John Hewson will make a great Prime Minister. He believes that as strongly as John Hewson believes in all the things he believes in.

(And moving onto the next generation should lock out Howard. Hopefully. After all this, if Howard got the job again…)

John agrees, eventually. He’s elected unopposed. Things only grow worse for Labor after the election – the economy spirals further into decay, the government refuses to take any responsibility, and Paul Keating’s ambitions cannot be contained any longer. In comparison, John Hewson leads a happy, principled, united team.

It is done. Andrew Peacock is not going to be Prime Minister, and he is so, so relieved.

**Economics (1983)**

Sure, most people don't expect this to work. His new treasurer – still pretty bloody green but sharp enough to be wary of – certainly doesn't. But Bob ran on a platform of reconciliation, bringing Australia together, and that's what he's going to do. Literally, if he has to.

And it does work. The accord stays in place. The economy improves. Bob Hawke's place in history is assured.

"Alright Bob, you win," says Paul, who it turns out is not a bad young fella. "If we had a bet you'd have my money."

Bob laughs. "Mate, didn't you trust me?"

**Following (1995)**

“I won’t stay longer than a term and a half,” Howard says, almost casually. This is what he’s been driven toward all his life, and it’s that easy for him? Peter thinks. Technically, this is disloyalty, what they’re discussing right now, although Alexander is so besieged he probably wouldn’t have time to be angry about it.

He wants to be Prime Minister, and he could easily take the leadership from Alexander – but what then? Could he really beat Keating, who has decades of experience over him? Could he be a successful Prime Minister so young and fresh? After all, look what happened to Hewson – the young messiah turned unbearable unelectable zealot. Peter doesn’t think that of himself, but the possibility looms.

“And then it would be my turn,” Peter says. Howard just smiles at him. It’s a good deal. A term and a half, long enough to bump him up to forty, and meanwhile he just has to wait while Howard claims the prize he’s always dreamed of. Howard is getting older, after all – not 55 yet, not too old, but edging toward oblivion. A term and a half, that’s what, five years? He’ll be sixty then, time to retire.

He thinks of Keating again. He shakes the thought away. The only thing he has to worry about with Keating is beating him.

“Alright,” he says.

**Green (1989)**

Bob Brown is smarter than most greenies, he’ll give him that. He knows Richo has a line to the Prime Minister’s ear, and that’s why he’s here, much more than that he happens to be Environment Minister (he never wanted this job anyway).

It’s not a situation he finds himself in very often – hiking through the Tasmanian forest with two men he barely knows, who are trying to convince him to save it. He’s out of breath, acutely uncomfortable and his foot is killing him. He keeps complaining about it, which serves the dual purpose of making him feel better and keeping them at arms length. They’re asking him for a favour, after all. Best to remind them he owes them nothing.

It’s not until they stop for water and a rest that he gets the chance to look around properly. The forest is rich and verdant. Birds soar above them, singing. The creek trickles along the ground.

…And Graham Richardson’s heart grew two sizes that day. Okay not really. But he does feel something.

**Heirship (1994)**

When Peter asked him to be leader, he didn’t think about it too much. This was probably a mistake. But at the time, everything was so frantic and the spill was only in a few days. Hewson had to be gotten rid of. But who else? Howard? He’d lost one spill to Hewson even after the election. Bronwyn Bishop? She had burned up her chance. Costello himself? Too young, and Jeff Kennett would be furious. Alexander ran because he had to.

Besides, there was such excitement about him when he popped up – he’s not immune to flattery, no-one is. He was the son of Menzies, or one of Menzies’ ministers, who had the Liberal Party in his veins, who could return it to its days of greatness.

What he didn’t stop to think was that things might have changed since his father was a minister.

So here he is, one of the most unpopular leaders in the nation’s history, unable to get the upper hand over one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers in the nation’s history. He cannot reconcile his party over Mabo, nor homosexuals, nor the republic, nor himself. He awaits his inevitable execution – someone has to cut him down before the next election. But after all the years of division, and the damage that’s done to the party, everyone’s become too squeamish. But it will happened, eventually. They have no choice.

He just wishes they’d get it over with.

**Independence (1988)**

He feels distant, somehow. He’s still Foreign Minister and one of the most important ministers in the government. But it’s a courtesy, everyone knows it, and they’re just waiting for him to give up and quit, since his career is already dead. But Bill Hayden is nothing if not tenacious, so he hangs on for five years, bitterly observing as Hawke and Keating ‘reform’ his party in their own image, all deregulation and efficiency and rationalism. God, how sick he is of the word ‘reform.’

It’s amusing when Bob offers him the job. He remembers back when he was an idealistic young socialist who believed the monarchy was utterly irrelevant. Of course the press will call him a hypocrite. But why shouldn’t he be a hypocrite? What ideas does he have left to offer his nation that are so worth respecting?

He takes the job, and Bob gives Bill ultimate control over his career. More than Paul, who breathes down Bob’s neck the way Bob breathed down Bill’s.

Of course, he’d never do it. Not after what happened with Kerr and poor Gough. But even if the gun’s empty, it’s nice to have it there.

**Judgement (1993)**

He told Howard before the ’83 election that he never wanted to be involved in this game again. He was sick to death at that point, of wasted opportunities, of how Fraser ignored all rational advice, of how subjugated the whole cabinet was. From a humble staffer’s point of view, it was maddening. John decided it wasn’t worth it.

But like anyone with ideas about how the world should be run and an opportunity to express them, he found himself sucked back in.

John – Howard – turned out to be treacherous. He guesses he always knew Howard was ambitious. And John was as angry, as appalled as anyone at how Howard was brought down, how Cheney turned traitor, how Tuckey and the others gloated on national television. But he was just as appalled at how Howard went around undermining them during the campaign. No person committed to the party, to policy, to principles could have acted like that. And that’s how their friendship dissolved. John doesn’t regard himself as a particularly egotistical man, but he does credit himself with one thing, and that’s believing in principle.

He never meant to get along with Andrew, given how he’d brought down John’s old friend to whom he was steadfastly loyal (before Howard’s own disloyalty surfaced). Peacock offered him Treasurer if he betrayed Howard. He said no. Peacock made him Treasurer anyway. He believed John was best suited for the job.

From that point on, they made a good team. Andrew was never anything but kind and charming and loyal. He never had much of a flair for economics, but John could compensate for that.

He did think, after they lost 1990 and the party anointed him, that he wasn’t ready. He’d only been in parliament three years. But Andrew chose him, and the party rallied to him, more unified than they’d been in years, and his ideas – people actually listened. Being listened to is addictive.

(He’d wanted Andrew as his deputy. People were quick to tell him how stupid that was politically. Maybe it was. But it was what he wanted.)

After they lose in ’93, he’s going to resign. That’s what you do when you single-handedly lose your party an unlosable election, isn’t it? It all seems very simple. Then Andrew comes and complicates it. That without him, the only other option is Howard. That the party still needs him. That the nation still needs to listen to his ideas.

John admits, he’s never known when to cut his losses.

**Karma (1991)**

Bill’s bitterness has not abated so much he can’t appreciate the irony of it all. Hawke, the man who scratched away at him and wore down his leadership to feed his own personal ambition, brought down the same way by one of the men he won to his side to make him leader in the first place. If the way Bob avoids his eyes is anything to go by, he’s aware of the irony too. That or he’s trying to hide how much he’s been crying. Bill doesn’t know what the point is: Hawke has lost something he has every right to be grieving for, and besides, Hawke would cry over a papercut.

He does pity Bob, perhaps. It’s been eight years, he should let go. Bob did try and make it up to him with this very job – Bill officially controls the government, if not in reality. Though it is funny – he was appointed the same year Bob and Paul made that ill-fated deal of theirs. Perhaps it brought the matter back to Bob’s attention.

He and Bob shake hands and Bob leaves. And that’s that. Now for Paul.

  
 **Lazarus (1995)**

It’s incredible, how different it is to ten years ago. When he first gained the leadership, it was bewildering and confusing, for him as much as the press or the public. He started off on the backfoot, something he can admit wasn’t helped by his, well, not overly exciting appearance and demeanour. He was also facing a Prime Minister still blisteringly popular. It wasn’t a good time.

But now, people are, actually, excited about what’s happened. The first fully consensual change of leadership since Menzies and Holt (not that Alexander had much of a choice, but really, he just seemed relieved when it happened). He’s won the loyalty of his predecessor, who just seems grateful to have been given the chance to resign with dignity, and to take a Minister’s post – John knows he’ll have Alexander for awhile yet.

There’s also Peter, who’ll have to be dealt with at some point, but not now.

**Marriage (1988)**

They make small talk for a little while, and Bill and Peter do their best to make this less awkward. Frankly, Bob doesn’t think they have any clue what’s going on. That’s for the best. Less anyone knows less chance there is of the fucking thing leaking.

Paul laughs and chats along with the rest of them, but he looks straight into Bob’s eyes and it’s bloody unnerving.

“Right,” Bob says. “Should we get on with it?”

Everyone nods and agrees. He coughs. “So,” he says, “After the next election – which I will lead the party to unquestioned – at some point, I will step down, allowing a smooth transition of leadership to Paul here, who will have my complete support.”

“In return, Bob will have my absolute loyalty until the day he steps down,” says Paul. “I won’t leak, or plot, or challenge. Or take my toys and go home for that matter.”

Paul says that last bit with a wry smile. Bob manages to smile back, but there's bitterness in it – he shouldn’t have to do this. He is the Prime Minister the Australian people have chosen at the last three elections. He shouldn’t have to make backroom deals with his treasurer to keep his job.

But if he doesn’t Paul will just quit. He was lying when he said he didn’t need Paul. Of course he was lying.

Anyway, that’s that, one way or another. Whether he keeps his deal or not, it won’t go away – it’ll be in the room whenever they talk: him, Paul and the promise. He and Paul are bound together now, they can't ever escape each other until one of them up and leaves politics.

As if they ever weren’t.

  
 **No-one (1989)**

Maybe he hasn’t built much of a profile. But he’s a long-standing member of Parliament, and John Elliot cannot come in and take his seat just because he’s wealthy and well-known. Roger thinks that’s important. So he holds as tight as he can, and after not long, Elliot just gives up. It can’t have mattered that much to him.

Then Michael Kroger changes the rules, and lets his best friend take Roger’s seat instead. Figures.

**Old (1985)**

Paul’s still fond of Bob, but he’s getting a bit sick of it all. He’s not sure if anyone else has noticed, but Bob still doesn’t have his head screwed on straight. Paul’s done his best, covering for Bob all that time, but if Bob wants to be Prime Minister his number one duty is actually being Prime Minister – not taking all the credit and the glory and leaving it to the rest of them to do the actual bloody work.

And then the tax thing happens and alright, perhaps Paul could’ve handled it more maturely, but he gets so fucking tired of Bob’s wishy-washiness, going back and forth, back and forth. That’s not leading. If Bob really doesn’t want to bring in the consumption tax, he should have the guts to tell Paul that to his face, not put him through this bullshit. 

“Old Jellyback,” was just something he said while pissed off and frustrated after a long day of trying to get Bob to make up his mind already. It wasn’t meant to spread. But screw it, if Bob’s going to dick him about like that, he deserves whatever he bloody gets.

Alright, it does unsettle him when Bob asks him, to his face: “Not developing a jellyback, are you Paul?”

And then – the unions. Fucking traitor. Paul doesn’t hold it against Bill or anyone, anyone but Bob, who just lied to him and went behind his back and screwed him over because the fella just doesn’t know how to say ‘no’, how to win an honest fight.

Paul’s still fond of Old Silver, Old Jellyback, but he doesn’t trust him for a second.

**Personality (1989)**

John Howard can’t win an election because he has no charisma. Everybody knows it. It’s where the Joh campaign sprung from – sure, it ended terribly since Joh never actually got around to running, but it started because Joh had charisma that Howard would never have. It’s why despite how he quit in a fit of pique and handed Howard the leadership, Peacock’s ambitions are still alive – Peacock’s always been slightly plastic, synthetic, but he’s still got enough of a spark in him to beat John Howard. Maybe.

Now they want him. It’s very flattering. It’s not that he doesn’t want to be Prime Minister – any man would want to on some level, if he had a scrap of ambition in him. But it’s not that simple. He’s not some politician, he’s John Elliot, the millionaire businessman. He has a lot to lose from becoming PM. He has a lot he’d have to give up.

So he sets specific conditions and waits for them not to arise. Roger Shipton holds onto his seat, for now at least. Andrew Peacock becomes leader again. Best of luck to him. John has bigger fish to fry.

**Queen (1992)**

He honestly didn’t notice he put his hand on her back. He doesn’t think she noticed either. There was no snooty Mr. Keating, what do you think you’re doing? Paul likes to think they got along pretty well, all in all.

Really, the whole ‘Lizard of Oz’ thing is just cheap tabloid rubbish. At least Hewson and his mob have the decency to be worked up about something that actually matters. Not that he’s going to listen to their toadying, to their desperate refusal to acknowledge Australia might have changed since Our Lord and Saviour Robert Menzies ruled the land. Paul looks to the future, and he’s not gonna apologise to anyone who’s not looking the same way.

He believes in the republic, and he’s gonna make a stand for it. And to a woman who’s watched political leaders of deep mediocrity come and go and come and go for forty years, that’s gotta be something.

**Revolution (1994)**

He entered Parliament in the 1950’s. Perhaps that is the source of his troubles. The modern Liberal party may still revere Menzies’ legacy, but Malcolm was there under Menzies, and what the party is now – it’s almost antithetical to what Menzies stood for, what Menzies believed in. No matter how the Liberal party tries to distance itself from him, from the Fraserian epoch, division and stagnation – he tries to remind it what it is underneath, beneath all the yuppies who want to ‘revolutionise’ the economy and the bigots who want to keep ‘foreigners’ off their land and the desperate, obscene competition with Labor as to who can be the most ‘rational’.

He’s never liked Hewson. Hewson has never liked him. When he was simply an advisor, Malcolm thought he was a bad influence on Howard, encouraging division for the sake of ideological purity. As leader he’s even worse. Whatever umbrage Hewson might take at him, he at least managed to win elections. It’s appalling that Labor should have been re-elected, with over a million unemployed, the savagery of their economic policy laid bare. In Malcolm’s mind, and those of the party, and the nation, there is no doubt as to where the blame lies.

He knows it will be controversial, if he stands for the Presidency. It’s not something Australia’s former political leaders typically do. A vote for Fraser is a vote against Hewson, and the organisational wing is meant to be neutral in such matters. But he believes it’s important. The party must be rescued, returned to the centre, returned to electability. The party may have forsaken him, but he hasn’t forsaken it. He was its most successful leader since Menzies. He will do everything he can for it.

Perhaps he underestimates it, how much the Liberal party doesn’t want him. How eager they are to forget. It reaches him, even – the guilt he feels when he talks Margaret out of standing against him. Malcolm would always do anything to win.

Quietly, ignobly, he decides not to stand.

He’s amused when the spill’s called, and Tony, as new party president, speaks out in favour of a change. John Hewson goes and it’s easy to pity him. The Liberal party is almost as happy to discard Hewson as it was to discard Fraser.

**Sport (1984)**

Paul doesn't know why he agreed to come. Good PR thing, he supposes, though he doesn't see any cameras around. The Prime Minister and treasurer should try and maintain a rapport though – and if that means pretending to understand the rules of AFL (why couldn't Bob have dragged him along to the rugby; Paul's from Sydney, he at least knows something about that) so be it.

Bob has had people come up to him of course, asking to shake his hand, telling him what a good job he's doing. Christ, the way Bob puffs up when he hears that – so that's why he brought Paul along, so he'd have someone to grab onto him just in case he started to float away.

"Right, well that shoulda been a free kick – holding the man," Bob explains like that means anything to him. Paul's too proud to admit it though, so he nods along and tries to figure out which ways of grabbing a bloke and forcing them to the ground are and are not allowed. It's almost a puzzle, and either he's having fun or he's being subjected to some exotic ancient torture trying to solve it, depending on how loud Bob's being next to him.

"Whaddaya mean interfering with the mark – that's not even – what's he meant to do?!" Paul wonders if he should intervene before the Prime Minister abusing the ref at the football like a hooligan becomes the evening headline. "Paul – you saw that, right?"

It takes him a second to realise he's been asked a question. He looks down at the ground, which the players have all moved to the side of already anyway. "Yeah," he says. "Something definitely just happened."

He looks back up as Bob smirks at him. "You haven't a bloody clue what I'm on about, have you?"

Paul looks sheepish. "Nah, not really."

Bob laughs. "You know, you didn't have to come."

"Well I've tried explaining the history of 19th century French architecture enough times that it seemed only fair."

"Ah, so it's all a duty," says Bob. "Here's me thinking you were here for my company and conversation."

"Don't flatter yourself, mate."

 **Tradition (1994)**  
The fact is, no matter what a 'boofhead' Jeff is or how many gaffes he makes or how many public utilities he sells off, he is at the end of the day traditional. He's the Victorian Liberal premier, brought in to fix the economy since Labor have gone and screwed it something special.

Andrew doesn't hold any of that against him, of course. Jeff is his best friend, always has been, and besides, Andrew is every bit as from the establishment as him, if not more so.

Still, it comes down to this: two men from the Melbourne Club determining the Liberal Party's future. It's leadership, in particular.

"Just wait, Jeff," he says, rubbing his forehead. "Costello's still, what, thirty-six? It'll be a while before he's ready to be leader, so you don't have to panic-"

"Under ordinary circumstances, yes. But the party's getting desperate. Hewson has to go, you know that better than anyone."

Of course he knows that. John also knows it, but he's hanging on regardless because if there's one thing John Hewson doesn't lack, it's stubbornness. Andrew doesn't respond.

"I just don't want things to end up so Costello's the next one in line to the throne when it finally happens. Not him or Howard."

Andrew doesn't even know why Jeff hates Costello so much – Jeff has certainly told him, but he doesn't remember it. He doesn't really remember why he's fought this feud with Howard – he's still fighting it, still propping up one John to stop the other. But he does it out of habit, now, and because he still has his supporters to think of. But he's not hoping for anything in particular. He no longer cares if John Howard becomes Prime Minister.

Okay, he hopes for one thing: he hopes John Hewson's career can end with a bit of dignity. Hence this whole conversation.

"Just give me some time, okay? I can talk to John," Andrew says. "If you go public like this, slagging off traitors in the rank – it's just confirming the whole disunity story, and it will bring him down, I know it will."

Jeff was there with him, after all, after the '93 election, as he talked John into staying on against all his better instincts. Jeff supported him, helped him. They both told John how he could still be a great leader. Jeff could at least share in the guilt that they'll have to tear him down, sooner or later.

Jeff sighs. "...Fine. But I'm doing it for you mate, nothing else. If you bloody insist."

"I mean it Jeff," he says. "You can't go public with this."

"Yeah, I said fine. What, don't you trust me?" Jeff raises an eyebrow.

Maybe he doesn't. He's gotten so cynical.

**Ultimately (1996)**

In some ways, it's a relief. Kim's not any happier in opposition than he was in government – he hasn't been happy in politics since what happened to Bob. But the tension has broken, and they can stop pretending to feel in control of everything. They're not in control anymore, and that fact gives them power.

At the very least, there's no more dealing with Paul Keating and his moods and his occasionally chucking pencils at you.

There's still a lot of work to be done, winning back the old party, convincing people that Labor stands for Labor values again, that they aren't in the pocket of big business.

Kim doesn't know how long they'll be here. He's not a naturally optimistic person. But he'll try.

**Victory (1990)**

Howard has always proclaimed his innocence in how Andrew's leadership ended. He says he became leader by accident. Andrew has never believed him. He acknowledges he can be paranoid, and he knows that the way he went about things – trying to force Howard to swear fealty, trying to have him sacked hen he refused, then quitting when he didn't get his way – was a bloody stupid thing to do.

But despite all that, he maintains: Howard was always undermining him, always after his job. Beneath the glasses and eyebrows and teeth, the plain-poor-honest-little Johnny image, he's a cold, ambitious man. John Howard got what he wanted, even if the timing was a bit off.

With this in mind, Andrew doesn't feel very guilty when planning his return. It's nothing Howard wouldn't do to him, and it's for the good of the party.

It's not 'til after the spill that his confidence starts to fall through. It's Senator Cheney's fault, really. That hurts Howard, and sure, winning Howard's good, personal friend to their side did make a point... But in retrospect, it seems cruel. Spiteful. Cheney wanders the halls, despised by Howard supporters and distrusted by Peacock ones, with nothing but a hollow deputyship for his troubles. It hardly feels good, being responsible for that.

Then there's Tuckey and the others, gloating about their success on national television. Speaking for him. _Sometimes by telling downright lies._

Christ, what must people think of him?

 **Wacky (1996)**  
As Labor spirals into oblivion, Paul knows most people reckon he's losing his mind. Honestly he doesn't care a bit. He has bigger things to worry about. Maybe he seems a little unhinged, but when has he not? He's been the most effective treasurer this nation's ever had; he's been a Prime Minister to accept Australia as part of the Asia-Pacific, to push Australia to true independence, to try and reconcile with the land's first inhabitants. He'd take that record any day, over the records of a million perfectly sane but utterly without value men clogging up the annals of political history.

What he does worry about is little Johnny Howard. The man's not a leader. He's not looking to the future. He's the old Menzian cultural cringe personified. Paul couldn't stand him getting his grubby little hands on the nation, but then again, what can he do? He's not going to pretend to be Howard out of terror. He's always been a proud bastard.

So instead he carries on, leading and not particularly caring if anyone's following. Maybe he's leading the way to his and the party's doom, but what of it? That's only to be expected after thirteen years. He knows what he's done, he knows history is on his side, and it'll all come right in the end.

**Xenophobia (1988)**

Alright, it was one of his (many, many) mistakes. He can see that. But he belives he was responding to a genuine issue in the community, if perhaps he could have phrased it better. These problems won't be solved by just ignoring them. There's this cone of silence that's descended, like the 'multicultural' society can't withstand any comment about the immigration process. It's not a healthy attitude, John thinks.

But the anger floods in, the letters reach the papers, Ruddock, Hall and Macphee cross the floor. The knives start circling again – the knives have been circling since he got the job, so he doesn't reckon that means much, but this just gives them an excuse.

People want someone to talk about these issues. But not quite like this.

 **Years (1983)**  
This is the moment. He's calm when it comes. There's a sense of destiny about it: for the second, Bill, the party, the factions, the unions, Gough and what happened to the last Labor government – all of it fades away. He is Prime Minister and this is what his whole life has been leading up to. His father is there to congratulate him. As birthday presents go, Bob might struggle to top this one next year.

The crowd roars when it sees him. Hazel looks a little overwhelmed, but Bob wasn't expecting anything else. They love him and he loves them. And this is only the beginning.

 **Zenith (1996)**  
It's finally here. Twenty years fighting, waiting for it – a lot of friends lost, a lot of bridges burnt. Sometimes even he doubted himself. Jeanette, of course, never did. She's so excited for him. But this is it, the end they've been working toward for so long. Little Johnny takes the crown.

Question is, where does he go from now?


	2. Notes

**Ascent**  
After Bill Hayden lost the 1980 election to Malcolm Fraser, former ACTU boss Bob Hawke gained pre-selection for the safe Labor seat of Willis, in Melbourne.

 **Brittle**  
Despite the controversy over his role in the Dismissal, Malcolm Fraser was elected in 1975 and re-elected in 1977 with massive majorities. He is now very unpopular with his former party, which he has quit. He did cry while making his concession speech after losing the 1983 election.

 **Carry on**  
In the 2000's, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating were somewhat reconciled. This fell apart in 2010 when Hawke's wife/biographer Blanche D'alpuget published a new biography of Hawke which portrayed Keating in terms he took offense to. Keating then wrote a letter to the Australian newspaper accusing Hawke of having gone 'MIA' for a large chunk of his being Prime Minister (from 1984 to 1988). They have been feuding ever since.

 **Denouement**  
The 1990 election was extremely close, the result not being finalised until after election night. The Hawke government was in serious trouble for the economic difficulties the country was facing, particularly extremely high interest rates (ie. up to 17%). However Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock lacked economic credibility. He had been Opposition leader previously, between 1983 and 1985, before being replaced by John Howard, who he replaced in turn in 1989. Labor eventually won, and Peacock resigned as leader to be replaced by shadow treasurer John Hewson, a former Howard loyalist who was 'converted' to Peacock's side, and also a doctor of economics.

 **Economics**  
One of Bob Hawke's first acts as PM was to hold a national economic summit, bringing together business figures, union figures and political figures. One thing that arose from the summit was an 'accord' with the trade unions - that they would show restraint in wage demands in exchange for a 'social wage' from the government (eg. increased welfare and family benefits, etc.). Many people including Paul Keating, expected this not to work and to break down quickly. But the accord lasted several years.

 **Following**  
When John Howard became Opposition Leader the second time, to prevent Peter Costello from running against him he said he would stand aside after a term and a half, allowing Costello to succeed him. Howard did not step aside after a term and a half, but served 4 full terms.

 **Green**  
Graham Richardson, powerbroker of the NSW Right and important factor in both Hawke and Keating's rise to power, was Environment Minister in 1989. He was invited by environmental activist Greens leader Bob Brown to explore the Tasmanian forest under threat from the Franklin Dam project (I believe). He wound up surprisingly committed to the cause of environmentalism. This became a major factor in Labor's 1990 election win - garnering the 2nd preference votes of Democrats and Greens concerned with the environment.

 **Heirship**  
Alexander Downer was son of a Menzies minister, grandson of a Federal Senator and one of the forefathers of Federation. He replaced John Hewson in a leadership spill, running on a 'youth ticket' with Peter Costello as deputy. Initially, Downer was greeted with high poll ratings, before a series of gaffes and his ratings falling significantly. Downer was replaced by Howard in January '95, serving just 8 months - at the time, the shortest period an Opposition Leader had ever served.

John Howard challenged Hewson after the '93 election. Rumours of Bronwyn Bishop seeking the leadership were common after she moved from the upper to the lower house, but she publicly gave them up after a by-election swing went away from her. Peter Costello was only 36, and in a feud with Jeff Kennett, who thought Costello's BFF Michael Kroger responsible for him (briefly) losing leadership of the Victorian Liberal party.

 **Independence**  
After he resigned/was rolled as Labor leader, Bob Hawke appointed Bill Hayden foreign minister. When he wanted to retire in 1988, Hawke offered him the position of Governor-General. Hayden had previously expressed his disbelief in the monarchy, but accepted the offer anyway.

 **Judgement**  
John Hewson started in politics as an advisor to John Howard (and Phillip Lynch, Howard's predecessor as treasurer). Him telling Howard that he wanted nothing else to do with politics was, apparently, a thing that happened. He enetered Parliament in '87. When Howard was rolled in '89, Senate leader and Howard's personal friend Fred Cheney was won to the Peacock camp to serve as deputy. The 'Cardinals' who had planned the coup (including Wilson Tuckey) shortly afterwards gloated on TV about how they had pulled it off.

Hewson and Howard's friendship dissolved over what Hewson viewed as Howard undermining the party in the '90 election campaign. Peacock offered Hewson Shadow Treasury during the leadership spill in exchange for his vote, which Hewson refused, but he was given it anyway. When he stood for leadership, he publicly said he wanted Peacock as his deputy, which the party wasn't pleased with - they wanted to move past the Peacock/Howard feud. Instead Hewson's deputy was Peter Reith.

After losing the '93 election, John Hewson initially planned to quit as leader, but was talked into staying on by Andrew Peacock (and some others, eg. Jeff Kennett) to prevent Howard regaining the leadership.

 **Karma**  
Bill Hayden was appointed Governor-General the same year as the Kirribilli Agreement, 1988. He was still GG when Keating replaced Hawke as PM. Bob Hawke famously cried a lot.

 **Lazarus**  
John Howard's second leadership was very different to his first. Downer agreed to stand aside in exchanged for his choice in cabinet position, and from that point on was one of Howard's most loyal supporters. This happened after Peacock quit politics.

 **Marriage**  
The Kirribilli Agreement, where Hawke agreed to stand aside after the '90 election. This happened after Hawke gave a TV interview after the '88 budget, saying (essentially) that he could live without Keating. It was witnessed by Bill Kelty, head of the ACTU, and Sir Peter Abeles, a wealthy businessman. Both men were long-standing friends of Hawke  & Keating.

 **No-one**  
There was a movement for Liberal party president ( & wealthy businessman) John Elliot to enter parliament and take the leadership. He said he would only do so if the seat of Higgins, where he lived, became available. Sitting member Roger Shipton was pressured to stand aside, but refused. Elliot gave up. Then Michael Kroger became Victorian Liberal party president, and changed rules around pre-selection, allowing Peter Costello to challenge Shiptop and win pre-selection for the seat of Higgins.

 **Old**  
During the '85 tax summit, Keating became committed to the introduction of a consumption tax, which was massively unpopular in the community. Hawke went back and forth on it a few times. The phrase "Old Jellyback" (in reference to Hawke) started circling around this time - Keating has always denied he coined it, but most people think he did. Eventually, Hawke decided against the tax and told the ACTU it was off the table, without telling Keating first. It's generally considered this is when the relationship really started to break down.

 **Personality**  
See _No-one._ Shortly after Elliot gave up his ambitions, Peacock challenged Howard for the leadership and won.

 **Queen**  
When the Queen visited Australia in '92, Keating got in trouble for putting his hand on her back, and was dubbed 'the Lizard of Oz' by the British tabloids. He also got in trouble for the speech he made in front of her, emphasising that Australia had changed since the days of British domination and Australia's growing tries with Asia. Paul Keating is a committed republican.

 **Revolution**  
Fraser entered parliament in '55. Fraser was always a critic of Hewson. When Hewson lost in '93, Fraser was one of the voices calling for a change of leadership. He planned on standing for the party presidency, something former PM's have not often done, and made it clear a vote for him would be a vote against Hewson. He talked Margaret Guilfoyle, a former minister of his and a friend, out of standing for the presidency (as she was popular and would be chosen if she did stand). However, when it became obvious Fraser didn't have the support he needed, he withdrew his bid. Tony Staley, another former Fraser minister, became president. He spoke out in favour of a change in leadership during the '94 spill. This was controversial (the organisational wing is generally expected to be neutral in internal party matters, at least publicly), but it worked out - Downer became leader, and Staley survived as president.

 **Sport**  
Hawke and Keating going to sport matches together is something that may have happened (at least, they said as much at the time. Whether it's true is another question), despite the fact Keating is known for not being interested in sport. And that is the closest thing to point this one has it is entirely silly.

 **Tradition**  
Andrew Peacock and Jeff Kennett were long time friends and a political team. Kennett, feuding with Costello and Kroger, viewed Costello as undermining Hewson and wanted to make a public attack on him. Peacock begged him not to, knowing this would prove once and for all that all the instability in the Coalition was not just a media beat-up. Kennett agreed, but then went and did it anyway. This caused Hewson to call a spill, during which Peacock abandoned Hewson for Alexander Downer, who won.

 **Ultimately**  
Kim Beazley became Labour leader after Keating lost the '96 election. While Beazley was Transport  & Communications Minister and Keating was Treasurer, they'd had a conflict over a policy which Keating lost - resulting at him throwing a pencil at Beazley.  
In the recent Australian Story profile on Bob Hawke, Beazley said that after Hawke was rolled: "politics was a duty and an honour, but it was never again a joy." Labor would be in opposition for 11 years after the '96 election.

 **Victory**  
In '85, Peacock viewed a series of media appearances by Howard as attempts to undermine him, and demanded Howard swear loyalty. Howard refused, so Peacock attempted to have him replaced as deputy. This failed in the party room, so Peacock resigned as leader and Howard replaced him. As for Cheney and Tuckey, see _Judgement._ "Sometimes by telling downright lies," is a quote from Wilson Tuckey, on how they accomplished the spill.

 **Wacky**  
"Captain Wacky" was a nickname Paul Keating was given in the latter days of his premiership. By this point he was extremely unpopular and expected to lose the next election in a landslide, which he did.

 **Xenophobia**  
In 1988 John Howard made comments calling for the rate of Asian immigration to Australia to be restricted, which were very controversial. The Hawke government quickly passed a motion assuring Australia's immigration policy wouldn't discriminate based on race, which 3 Liberals crossed the floor to support.

 **Years**  
Bob Hawke became PM in March '83. Coincidentally, the day of the election was also, apparently, his father's birthday. After having been in government for just 3 of the last 30 years, this was the beginning of the longest time in (federal) government for the ALP - 13 years.

 **Zenith**  
After 13 years in Opposition and a lot of trouble, John Howard became PM in '96.


End file.
